


Until It Comes To An End

by haounit



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Eventual Fluff, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Self-Harm, jeonghan is dead, oh god what am i DOING, post apocalypse sort of with another apocalypse on the way you feel me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-06-16 02:14:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15426807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haounit/pseuds/haounit
Summary: A coming of age story that follows the experience of a group not far from the edge.





	1. An Introduction

Seungkwan’s nasty curse of a cough is what has Seokmin jumping awake from his sleep. The latter mumbles curses under his breath at the sound of the footsteps against the creaky wood floor, pushing his ear as close to the sleeping bag material and the floor as he can. 

 

It’s been a month since Jeonghan died. 

 

He decides that the time to sleep has passed after the hacking continues to echo throughout the house; Seokmin is sure it’s bronchitis but not sure enough to the point where can actually help. Encouraging the younger that he should continue to drink water almost became a routine back a few months ago, even going to the point where Seokmin would give up his water for the day just so Seungkwan could have it.

 

But those times had passed and he just began to keep the water for himself avoiding the sad gazes Seungkwan threw his way. 

 

Chan can’t stop crying.

 

Seokmin passes the room where Minghao sits and pricks at his at his forearm with a broken off piece of metal wire that was once apart of a retainer; a pair of eyes boring into the abuse bleeding out onto his skin. He says he does it to see if he’s actually alive and not dreaming. Chan’s countless attempts to get him to stop have never worked and Seokmin’s sure he’s going to kill himself one day. There’s nothing he can do about it except wrap up Minghao’s arm with bandages without waking him up while he’s sleeping. 

 

Seungkwan has an attitude problem these days.

 

Chan’s chokes on his sobs throughout the night to the point where Seungkwan can’t take it anymore. Pulling a pocket knife from his waistband and pressing it close to Chan’s neck, hissing a threat at him.The only reason the youngest of the group is still here is because Seokmin heard his shrill scream for help. Chan laid in his arms that night. 

 

“You practically carry him around like a fuckin’ baby,” Seungkwan spits the jab at Seokmin when the two walk into the kitchen at the same time. Seokmin feels himself practically cringe at the statement but refrains a response. 

 

Chan can’t sleep at night.

 

Whenever he closes his eyes he sees Jeonghan and refuses to shut them again. Insomnia wraps its arms around him as his cries began to get quieter each day. Minghao can still hear him from the next room over.


	2. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Painted in Red.

A post-war stricken society is what they lived in before the end came. Roads and buildings were completely destroyed, the ones that survived were left homeless with practically nowhere to go. Nearly almost a year ago the oligarchy turned everyday life into one dictated by ironclad army soldiers. Strict rules being implemented, brawny men in red roaming the streets at all periods. 

They had lived in a cramped containment center just like everyone else did. How they got put together and not with a bunch of serial killers was fate in Seokmin’s opinion. 

Seungkwan was a polite boy who just wanted everyone to lighten up. Turning every dull moment he could into a brighter one with a childish quip. Seokmin thought he was mentally insane to always be that happy but all he could do was laugh along. 

Chan was freshly orphaned, suffering from trauma after watching his parents die right in front of him. During the sixth month of their containment he finally said something. A simple hello was forced out of him by an excited Seungkwan.

Minghao had a similar story but they had all seen it happen first hand. The brown haired boy and another man with broad shoulders shackled in handcuffs approached their glass hut on the first day. Seokmin remembers the situation clearly; both of them had their heads down as they walked, the other man’s lips were moving with speed as he exchanged the words secretly, and then Minghao nodded. And just right before they could make it the taller of the two swung around and head butted the soldier in the face. 

A brave attempt he must admit but of course it didn’t turn out well.The man’s mass was no competition to the soldier who practically towered over them.

Grasping him by the neck and slamming him down onto the hot pavement, the soldier swiftly took his gun from his waistband. The nameless man’s body twitched on the ground, a pool of blood submerging from beneath his head. 

Minghao let out a yell that Seokmin will never be able to unhear as they all watched with sympathetic eyes.

A gunshot rang and the soldier grabbed the deceased man’s foot to drag him away as if nothing happened. 

This was foreign to the eyes of Seokmin and Jeonghan. Deep down they knew stuff like that happened but had never saw it with their own eyes. They were from a place far north from the center of the state. The two best friends grew up with privilege that the others would never get a taste of. 

Seokmin watched with frightened eyes as Minghao stepped into their new home with a blank expression. 

That’s how it began.

 

“Man, fuck this guy,” The eldest of the group hissed.

Jeonghan started coughing up blood at the nine month mark of their containment. The somewhat scrawny man hunched over the small toilet looking pale as ever, eyes shut tight. Seokmin starred in worry, rubbing soothing circles into the older’s back because there was nothing else he could do. He had no idea what it could be; cancer was definitely too broad of a term to use. So all he could assume is that he has some type of poisoning, it’s not like they provided doctors there. 

The latter cleaned up the blood splotches on the floor too make sure no one would notice.

“No, not fuck this guy. Jeonghan,” Seokmin warned. It happened a month ago. A man in red had entered the center for the weekly check up and was using force. Maybe it was how the soldier shoved Chan onto the floor or how he lifted Minghao by his neck to check his body. Something had pushed him to the edge. 

“You...think you can just come in here and throw us around like we’re garbage? We’re not garbage asshole.” 

“Jeonghan.” 

In a split second, a gun was placed right in the middle of Jeonghan’s forehead. He smiled manically, looking up at the metal between his eyebrows. 

Seokmin realized that maybe he wanted to die.

“What was that?” The soldier smiled back at him. A set of rotten teeth displayed as he looked down at the challenger.

“Shoot me. You won’t do it.”

“Jeonghan,” Seokmin started again but got cut off. He couldn’t have his best friend getting killed though. How could he leave him here? 

“Oh? You think I won’t?” 

The soldier naturally loaded his gun against Jeonghan’s forehead, the smile never wiping from his tanned face. The shorter went to respond with something witty again but instead hacked up blood all over the soldiers shoes. 

A gunshot rang. 

Seokmin wiped at his wet cheeks as they all watched their friend being dragged away like he was just a memory. Chan sobbed loudly beside Seokmin before the older clapped a hand over his mouth. 

The man in red stupidly left the door to their house unlocked due to being bothered by the blood on his shoes and having to drag a dead body. An ignorant mistake letting the four sneak off into the outside world they were originally taken from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> make sure to tell me what u guys think!


	3. Ode to Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is tired of being vulnerable.

“Oh boo-fuckin’-hoo, is crying all you know how to do?” Seungkwan hacks out a painful cough in Chan’s face. He seemed to stop caring about not spreading germs; the world was probably gonna end any day now. The younger boy’s bloodshot eyes stared blankly off into space.

 “Really? Answer me idiot. And look at me when i’m talking to you, fuck.”

 Seokmin stops walking and looks over his shoulder to see what’s happening. The sun was burning his skin, cracked and red flesh stretched up his arms and legs. He somewhat wished they wouldn’t do this right now. It was nothing but dangerous for them to be out in the open like this. With guards roaming every street at every second there was no way they could easily maneuver their way through the city. But here Seungkwan was: being loud and coughing his guts out.

 

A yelp.

 The agonizing sound busted through Seokmin’s ears so loudly he felt like it might of broken his ear drums. Chan held is cheek in one hand and crouched down on the ground, except he wasn’t crying this time. Seungkwan coughed obnoxiously while shaking his hand around, “I told you to answer me.”

 Minghao watched the situation skeptically from the tree he was leaning on. It was almost as if he was interested to see how far this would go. His tired eyes moved to Seokmin’s statue like figure.

 Seungkwan bent down and wrapped his skinny fingers around Chan’s neck, an almost maniacalsmile stretching arose his face. They were ice cold and Chan hated the way they felt on his skin. He was sick. It was easy to tell that Seungkwan had grown to like the feeling of power. The fact that he could so easily intimidate someone as pathetic as Chan lit a fire in him. Of course it wasn’t the best way to go about things but it’s not like he actually cared that much.

 “Next time, it won’t just be a slap.” He croaked out the words before walking forwards; not forgetting to have a coughing fit on the way.

 Seokmin felt like he was frozen despite how hot it was outside. He had sat there and watched the entire thing yet failed to do anything to stop it. Chan didn’t move from his position on the ground when Seokmin walked over to him, resting his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder.

 “Come on, let’s get moving.”

 Chan wanted to shove his hand off of his shoulder; maybe even yell in his face for making no attempt to help him. He was tired of feeling vulnerable and being pushed around but what could he do? Seokmin was all he had. The two boys walked side by side as they journeyed along the back roads of the dull city. A comfortable silence between them.

 Minghao followed behind watching the two closely.

 

 

It wasn’t always like this.

 

 When the four had first escaped they got lucky. Making a quick getaway to the side streets where no one would be able to find them. It was hard to forget about what had happened a few moments earlier but they had to keep running.

 Seokmin kept running.

 Even if the others weren’t up to speed with him he ran as fast as he could. Tears burned at the corners of his eyes at the thought of his late best friend. He was angry. Outraged even at how Jeonghan could just so easily leave him in a shit hole world like this. Sure he had the other boys but he had only met them a little less than a year ago.

 His feet eventually led him to the aabandoned house they would live in for the next month. That night Seokmin sat in an empty room crying, praying to god to make it all go away. The sickening feeling of this newly found isolation nipped away at the parts of his conscious. Deep down, he knew it would never go away. This was how it was now.

 As if only self pity could heal the dramatic wound of a broken heart, the broad boy wrapped his arms around himself. Memories of Jeonghan’s ode to life suffocating his thoughts in the form of tears.

 Minghao softly leaned his head on the wall in the next room over. Wishing he had the strength to take the pain away from his friend. He reached out for the wire metal he accidentally step on earlier.

 

 

 

“Find them, now.”

 Soonyoung wasn’t exactly the tallest or the broadest. And he definitely wouldn’t be able to pick up anyone by their neck. Or even so much as think about touching the pistol on his waistband. To summarize it; he hated being an officer. Of course he could admit that it was way more beneficial than being in the containment class but it was obviously a flawed system.

 Late night parties where people clothed head to toe in red would fill empty abandoned mansions. The bright lights hung were practically blinding to any human eye while nearly radioactive alcohol was being ingested within a blink. These single souls didn’t care about tomorrow because they weren’t sure if there’d be one. As the days got warmer; parties got longer, bigger, crazier.

 Drunk off his ass, Soonyoung carried himself outside to a balcony, nearly falling off once he reached the ledge. The champagne glass in one hand tipping over making the contents fall onto the dirt terrain that they called grass. He whispered a quick apology to no one in particular.

 His cheek met the cool metal of the railing as he eyed the containment centers only across the way. It felt surreal for a moment.

 Here he was on the third of many floors of a mansion looking out into the what some may call slums of the city. A certain camp caught his eye. He didn’t exactly know what was going on but it didn’t look good.

 Soonyoung had heard the gunshot that killed Jeonghan too. Or, at least he thinks he did; it sounded more like set off a bomb due to his intoxicated state.

 Now here he was sitting in front of the head chief of relations being ordered to find the ones who had experienced the gunshot first hand. It seemed only impossible to him. If these boys were smart enough to escape without getting caught the first time why would they let up the second.

 The man felt himself quiver at the way the hot atmosphere hit his face when he stepped outside. Letting out a sigh, he began his way to search the entire city.


End file.
